The Mavericks' franchise player has experienced more losing this year than at any point previously.
Cooper Flagg has met the lofty expectations placed on him entering his first NBA season, and even if he loses the Rookie of the Year award to Kon Knueppel - which Jason Kidd says he won't - Flagg is still the face of the Dallas Mavericks franchise as a teenager.
That's notable, but it hasn't come without its challenges.
As the No. 1 pick's rookie season winds to a close, the Mavericks are 24-52 and have all but locked up another top-10 pick in the NBA Draft, pending a drastic lottery shift.
Flagg appeared on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN this week to detail how he's managed the losing.
"Obviously, it’s been tough. Like you said, you know, through high school, college, I mean, I only lost four games last year," Flagg said. "So there have been times of the season where it’s been, you know, really mentally taxing on me."
Flagg couldn't have been put in a more uncommon situation for a top pick. He joined a roster fitted with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and a cast of characters from a recent NBA Finals run. Davis was expected to be the dominant force he's been in the past, and Dallas hoped to bring Irving back from an ACL injury in time for a postseason push.
Instead, the Mavs' trade of Luka Doncic from the year prior proved to be fatal to the team's chances of competing, even as Flagg came into his own. Davis was oft injured and ultimately traded. General manager Nico Harrison was fired, and as the losses piled, Irving was sat down for good.
"Just not having success that I would’ve hoped for, and obviously, we’ve had a lot of injuries, and a lot of unfortunate things happen throughout the year. It’s obviously not been ideal," Flagg said.
"I’ve had growth along the way, and I’ve had to get better and learn on the fly, but definitely not the start I would’ve looked for. Hopefully, eventually I’ll be able to look back on it and know that I was able to learn a lot from it."
Now, Flagg is in a position more familiar to other No. 1 picks - the face of a franchise in rebuild mode.
With a major offseason of decisions coming, Dallas can still muster a roster good enough to compete, but the pressure remains heavy for the 19-year-old who is tasked with dragging the team out of the hole it is in on the court.
Irving will carry his weight, too, but Flagg has shown that he has all the traits necessary to grow into one of the best players in the league, and that could come soon.
The Maine native and former Dukie has put up 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. His playmaking has especially improved in the second half of the season. Flagg credits Kidd for throwing him into the water as a point guard and first allowing those experiences to begin laying groundwork for where he is today.
"Coach Kidd has given me that confidence to go out and be a creator and learn the game in a lot of different ways. I think it’s just helped me to get comfortable all around."
Dallas has six games remaining, and while Flagg has felt the brunt of a frustrating season, so too have Mavs fans over the last year and a half.
The phenom's emergence is among the top factors why Mavs fans may be able to move into next season with excitement, as the hope begins to build for Flagg's rookie season being the last "taxing" year for a while.
